


Alone

by LibraryMage



Series: Vampire AU [4]
Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Ezra Bridger Needs a Hug, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Isolation, Psychic Abilities, Stockholm Syndrome, Whumptober
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:21:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26907298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LibraryMage/pseuds/LibraryMage
Summary: For months now, Ezra has been locked away, seeing no one but his kidnapper.  The isolation is starting to take its toll.
Series: Vampire AU [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1940905
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16





	Alone

**Author's Note:**

> Whumptober 2020 prompt: isolation

Ezra had long since become desensitized to the sound of the chain scraping against the floor as he paced across the basement. He’d had to. There was nothing else to do when Mother wasn’t around.

He wasn’t exactly sure how long he’d been here. With no way to tell day from night and sleep no longer being necessary for survival, time had lost all meaning after just a few days. However long it was, he’d stayed locked in the basement the whole time, the chain never coming off.

Mother was the only person he ever saw. He knew there were others in the… house? or wherever he was being kept. Mother said they were her siblings. But he was off-limits to them. Which meant that sometimes he was left alone for days at a time, waiting for Mother to come back. Waiting for the person he hated most in the world.

At first, he’d liked being left alone. If he was alone, Mother couldn’t hurt him. She couldn’t yell at him. Couldn’t make him reach into humans’ minds to amplify and channel the emotions she fed on. Couldn’t whisper praise in his ear that made him feel like the lowest, most disgusting creature on the planet.

But it turned out she could.

Even when she wasn’t there, her words echoed in his head, drowning out his own thoughts and the relentless scrape of the chain against the floor.

_This is all you’re good for._

_If it weren’t for me, those hunters would have found you by now._

_You owe me everything._

_You’re mine. You always will be._

Just thinking about it made Ezra shudder. And yet, here he was, wondering when she would be back. _Hoping_ that she would come back soon.

_You’re pathetic_.

Those words were hers, but could just as easily be his own. He hated himself for how quickly he had given in. He was giving her exactly what she wanted; a compliant tool that would do anything she told him because at least it was better than being left alone. He hated the fact that after so long, he almost _liked_ it. Touching someone’s mind for her was the closest thing he got to contact with anyone other than her anymore. A momentary escape before her mental claws sank into him, draining the defenseless human through him.

More than anything, he hated that he was turning into the monster he’d been so afraid of becoming. He might not have bitten anyone, but he was still hurting people, just to get a break from the isolation and save himself from the pain Mother would inflict on him if he refused.

_Your parents would be ashamed of you._

Those words _were_ Ezra’s, and as they entered his mind, he stopped in his tracks, his hands shaking as they curled into fists at his sides.

_They’d hate you._

“No,” Ezra muttered. They would never hate him. He had to remember that. Mother had already taken so much from him, and he wasn’t about to let her take away his parents’ love for him, too.

_They would._

“Shut _up_.”

_They’d want nothing to do with you if they saw what you_ really _are._

“Shut up!”

Ezra’s shout was swallowed up by the cement walls that surrounded him. He hated those walls, hated the way they boxed him in, taunting him.

Barely even realizing what he was doing, Ezra dropped to the floor, grabbing hold of the chain and yanking at it. He pulled and pulled even as his skin began to burn. He kept tugging at the chain until the pain became unbearable and he forced himself to let go, tears welling up in his eyes as he clutched his hands close to his chest.

For a moment, he just stared at the reddened skin on his palms. He'd have the marks for days, maybe even weeks. Burns caused by silver always took longer to heal.

As he slowly curled his fingers, checking the extent of the damage, a quiet _creak_ met Ezra’s ear. By now, that sound was painfully familiar. It was the top step on the flight of stairs that led to the basement. Mother was coming back.

At least now the voices in his head would be quiet for a while.


End file.
